Quotes of the day

posted at 10:43 pm on August 4, 2011 by Allahpundit

“The consensus has been that for all his problems, Obama is so skilled a politician — and the eventual GOP nominee so flawed or hapless — that he’d most likely be reelected.

“Don’t buy into it.

“This breezy certitude fails to reckon with how weak his fundamentals are a year out from the general election. Gallup pegs his approval rating at a discouraging 42 percent, with his standing among independents falling 9 points in four weeks…

“Where’s the bright spot? Hard to see. Obama has few, if any, domestic achievements that enjoy broad public support. No one assumes employment, growth or housing prices to pick up much, if at all — something Obama is essentially powerless to change. And the political environment and electoral map are significantly tougher than in 2008, especially in true up-for-grabs states…

“Privately, however, Obama’s team is concerned about the factors beyond its control, talking of an imminent need to retool their economic message and strategy heading into 2012. Absent the president’s ability to defy political gravity, one Obama adviser conceded, ‘The numbers add up to defeat.’”

***
“Barack Obama has a communications problem. His reputation for eloquence and argument is highly exaggerated​—​at best. Speech after speech, appearance after appearance, the president has failed to persuade the undecided that his views are correct, much less win over opponents. You can blame partisan polarization, the institutional limitations of the presidency, the diversity of new media, whatever. The truth is, the more Obama talks, the worse he performs.

“Consider the president’s economic message. The administration’s failure to reduce unemployment significantly has left Obama struggling to convince the country that, as bad as things are, they could be worse. ‘A lot of the problems we face right now, like slow job growth and stagnant wages, these were problems that were there even before the recession hit,’ he told the National Conference of La Raza last week. ‘These challenges weren’t caused overnight; they’re not going to be solved overnight.’

“Talk about a downer. The president’s excuses, though, have made no difference to the 57 percent of Americans who disapprove of his handling of the economy in the July ABC News/Washington Post poll. Or the 67 percent that say the country is on the wrong track in the July NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey. Obama can’t change their minds.”

***
“HUFFINGTON: But the point is that the most important number going into 2012 is going to be the unemployment number. And there is absolutely no prospect at the moment that would make us believe that unemployment number is going to be below nine percent. Now that is really the greatest fear for the White House. And of course Mitt Romney again and again is talking about the failure of the President to produce jobs, and he doesn’t have to tell us how he would have done it. He just has to point out to that failure. And when the President again and again talks about how, I mean, I went through and looked since 2009 how many times he has said, ‘Jobs priority number one,’ ‘The sustained focus of this administration,’ ‘The relentless focus of this administration,’ ‘We’re pivoting to jobs.’ Nobody believes it any more.”

***
“Obama’s backroom strategy destroyed his leverage. As John Podhoretz noted in the Post column I linked to earlier today, Obama’s inability to either work out a deal in private or rally public support behind any particular plan resulted in a deal that left out the one thing he had demanded, any tax hikes. And indeed, whether or not the Hill’s account is accurate, it is telling that Obama insisted that his entire role be performed offstage where the public couldn’t verify what he was doing or where he stood except by taking the word of him and his spokesmen. That amounted to a total surrender of the ‘bully pulpit,’ despite Obama’s frequent appearances to repeat his vague appeals for a ‘balanced’ approach – Republicans could see that he wasn’t willing to take any stand for which he’d be held accountable, and so they inferred, correctly, that he’d never stand ground he’d taken in private if he feared to take it in public. His silence on the specifics rendered him weak and vulnerable, and ultimately impotent. He became the man who’d take any deal, so of course he got none of what he asked for.

“That part, no amount of spin about the blow-by-blow of the closed-door negotiatons can conceal.”

***
“Progressives and other peeved supporters of President Obama who aren’t happy with the all-cuts-no-revenue deal to raise the debt ceiling need to see it as the beginning of a very long (and necessary) process to get the nation’s fiscal house in order. But it also means that the president will have to be more aggressive in his use of presidential power. In short, I want him to use everything the bully pulpit has to offer to get what he wants, including shutting down the government if he must. After what we just went through to avert economic catastrophe, padlocking Washington ain’t no big thing…

“In the coming fights over the next budget, unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts, I want Obama to show the Republican Party in general and the Tea Party in particular that he isn’t afraid to out-crazy the crazies. If that means vetoing bills, taking the fight to individual districts, shutting down the government, so be it.”

Blowback

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And the Progressive devils out there don’t care what face the movement has as long as their agenda marches forward. Unborn Babies being killed, government expanding, liberty contracting, and the Ruling class gaining power. Obama?………meh, just a marketing tool.

I am not as optimistic. We are now in the month department. Where would a person vanish to, unless it was a safari into the Congo or a trek into the Arctic. He may be dealing with a personal crisis, and if that is the case, we are so, so sorry and want to rally around him in spirit and support.

Horrifying images of bodies and limbs floating in the Orontes River in Hama were aired by Syrian state television early Thursday, Aug. 4. Contrary to official claims that they belonged to Syrian soldiers torn to pieces by protesters, debkafile reports they are the victims of Syrian tank fire and ZU-23 automatic anti-aircraft artillery trained on residential buildings and streets in the last 48 hours as the dead pile up in the streets.

Citizens cowering in their homes are throwing the dead out of windows and off roofs into the river.
They are reliving the terrors of the massacre President Bashar Assad’s father inflicted on this city of half-a-million in 1982 which left 30,000 dead.

Citizens cowering in their homes are throwing the dead out of windows and off roofs into the river.
They are reliving the terrors of the massacre President Bashar Assad’s father inflicted on this city of half-a-million in 1982 which left 30,000 dead.

Regarding the national review cruise, they usually jack up those packages because then it covers the free cruise fare for all of the famous people to get to go on the cruise for free.

karenhasfreedom on August 5, 2011 at 7:15 AM

I’m sure that’s true and it’s a lot of people I would love to listen to. The Husband & I are retired, I’m already around him 24/7. If I’m changing locations and paying I want someone else to listen to.

I want him to use everything the bully pulpit has to offer to get what he wants, including shutting down the government if he must… I want Obama to show the Republican Party in general and the Tea Party in particular that he isn’t afraid to out-crazy the crazies.
–Jonathan Capehart

Funny,

These are the very same bunch of folks, who were predicting the end of the world, if a deal wasn’t made by Aug. 2nd.

isn’t it.

And, led by a Slimey Douchebag, threatening to withhold the checks of little old ladies, if he didn’t get his way.

While I’m on the subject of scaring little old ladies, I’d like to share an e-mail I got from my Representative on July 25th.

Dear Frank,

As the debt ceiling debate continues in Washington, D.C., I wanted to briefly update you on what I am doing to protect Social Security.

Like many of you, I was deeply concerned by President Obama’s recent comment that – should he and Congress fail to reach an agreement on raising the national debt ceiling by August 2 – he could not “guarantee” that Social Security and other checks would continue to be mailed to their recipients.

The President’s statement was immediately rebuked by those who know the facts. The fact is, regardless of what happens with the debt ceiling, the federal government has more than enough revenue to ensure that every senior citizen gets their Social Security check on time and in the full amount.

The only way any senior would be denied a Social Security check is if the President withheld those checks for political reasons. That’s because President Obama’s Treasury Department – not Congress – controls the dispersal of checks. In recent Congressional testimony, Stephen Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration and a member of the Obama Administration, admitted this important truth (watch the video here).

While it’s very unlikely that President Obama would choose to withhold Social Security checks, if that happened, I would strongly oppose it and I would work with my colleagues to hold the President accountable and make certain everyone receives their Social Security.

For updates on the debt ceiling, Social Security, and other issues that affect you, please visit my Seniors Portal.

Obama will continue to lie, pander to the Jeff Immelts & Richard Trumkas, steal from the blue collars, race bait (remember the new black panther vote disturbances) and gain unrevealed “small donations” from all over the world (read that as “out of the country muslims” if you wish) in order to run the dirtiest campaign in history. We as conservatives must unite behind one GOOD candidate in order to take back this country!! I only hope it’s not a Romney or a Guliani or a Ron Paul!!!

I believe the latest statistics reveal that 47% of all Americans do not pay any income taxes. This figure seems shockingly high but if it is true it is obviously the core of Obama’s voting constituency. Paradoxically, at the other end of the continuam, Obama has 250,000, willing and able , wealthy, progressive Ivy Leaguers willing to spend millions for the re-election of their “Patron Saint”.

So with a welfare constituency at his back and the filthy rich in his pocket, Obama always stands a chance of re-election.

But Obama does have one significant accomplishment-an unemployment rate nearly double that of Mexico (9.2 vs 4.9). Because of this ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE ACTUALLY STARTED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMELAND.!!!!

No one wants to vote for a loser. Some will do so as a matter of principle, but folks don’t want to lie when asked how they have voted. The perception of “Obama as loser” and “Obama as incompetent” is growing rapidly and if he cannot reverse the growth of that perception, he is as doomed to certain defeat.

‘We’re pivoting to jobs.’ Nobody believes it any more.” This 3 day bus tour should fix that nicely. Right?
‘He became the man who’d take any deal, so of course he got none of what he asked for.’ If this is the case, then the Rs have really got an ace up their sleeves for any future negotiations with this loser. Do they have the will to use it is the next question.

I want him to use everything the bully pulpit has to offer to get what he wants, including shutting down the government if he must…
–Jonathan Capehart

How many falses premises in his full statement?

First, using the “bully pulpit” has proved his most ineffective indeed counterproductive tool. Everytime Obama addresses the nation on an issue, he loses ground. This was true throughout Obamacare and the debt ceiling debate.

Second, he has gotten everything he wanted, but only by using legislative chicanery and thuggisheness.

Third, getting what he wants is exactly what has destroyed the economy and mobilized the most significant grassroots resistance movement in American history.

So this moron is wrong on every count. Yet he perfectly captures the juvenile militance of frustrated leftists everywhere who can’t abide the pushback and demand the total suppression of dissent.

No one wants to vote for a loser. Some will do so as a matter of principle, but folks don’t want to lie when asked how they have voted. The perception of “Obama as loser” and “Obama as incompetent” is growing rapidly and if he cannot reverse the growth of that perception, he is as doomed to certain defeat.

stefano1 on August 5, 2011 at 9:27 AM

The millions that fell for the nonsense about him being intelligent are also starting to see the light. He’s a bloody moron that couldn’t lead the night shift at a Burger King.